Vote NO on Issue 4

The box at the right shows exactly what Toledo voters will see when they go to the polls Tuesday to decide Issue 4, which would dramatically alter the City's ban on smoking in public places.

The ballot language asks a long question, but in essence, a simple one: Shall Toledo's year-old ban be changed to allow smoking once again in bars, bowling alleys, and other public places, and in restaurants with nine or fewer employees?

Despite the insistence of bar owners that Issue 4 is about jobs, it is not. It is about the health of all our citizens, including those who work in smoky environments.

Toledoans should be proud that their city is out front in a rapidly growing movement toward a smoke-free society.

We could recite a litany of statistics about the terrible cost to society of smoking.